


ruin our friendship

by Serpensortia_parapluie



Category: Naruto
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-10 17:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20855768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serpensortia_parapluie/pseuds/Serpensortia_parapluie
Summary: Ino has always wanted more from Sakura than just 'friends'.





	ruin our friendship

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the StudioKiller's song _Jenny_, specifically the line, "I wanna ruin our friendship, we should be lovers instead."  
I managed to write a fic more about the _wanting_ than the 'lovers' bit, which was not what I set out to do when I heard the song and immediately thought of Ino/Sakura.  
Starting with the disclaimers: I do not own, nor am I associated with the creators of _Naruto_, and I do not give permission for my works to be posted on sites like Goodreads.

Ino has a secret that nobody knows. Well, except for Shikamaru probably, because the lazy bastard seems to know almost everything. He doesn’t count though, because he’ll keep his mouth shut if he knows what’s good for him.

The point is- this secret isn’t something she’s told her closest friends, though they probably already know or knew before she did. It’s something she holds close to her breast for years and years and doesn’t dare say aloud.

The secret?

It’s not Sasuke she day-dreams about being her significant other. He’s not really the one she wants to hold or kiss, and maybe someday marry when they’re all grown up. Sure, he’s pretty, and sure, he’s talented, but he also has ridiculous hair and is full of himself in a way that’s deeply unattractive.

Ino wants one person, and one person only to be her one and only.

Haruno Sakura.

-

The next time Ino gets to see Sakura after graduation is in the Chuunin Exams. Ino’s covered in sweat and reeks to high Kumo with it. She’s absolutely covered in red spots, and only a few of them are bug bites- most of them are pimples, in the worst breakout she has _ever_ had. She’s not had a bath in five days, and her hair is so frizzy its loose ends are floating about two inches away from the rest of her head- that is, the parts of it that aren’t slathered to her skin with grease. Gross!

She’s exhausted, and miserable, and sick of this dumb _stupid_ competition.

She catches a glimpse of a familiar red dress and turns, mouth already opening to spit out some insult so she can have Sakura’s attention on her instead of Sasuke for once, and the first thing she notices is Sakura’s hair.

That’s not unique. For most people, the first thing they notice about Sakura is her hair. Pink is hardly a normal color, even though it’s completely natural.

What takes Ino aback is how _short_ it is.

Sakura’s hair used to be almost exactly the same length as Ino’s- down to the small of their backs when unbound. Now Sakura’s hair is just past her chin at it’s longest, ragged and uneven and nothing like the perfectly maintained length Ino’s used to.

The change is stark, and breath-taking.

A part of her is hurt. Didn’t Sakura care about the pact they’d made to grow their hair out any more? Does that mean she doesn’t care about Ino anymore? Mostly, she’s trying not to trip over herself to rush over and just _stare_ at Sakura, because _**wow**_.

Short hair _really_ suits her. Like, _really, really_ suits her. Wow.

Ino needs to take a moment to recover. She’s got flutters in her stomach that have absolutely nothing to do with nerves over the competition she could still possibly die in.

Frankly, with how good Sakura’s looking right now, Ino might just die happy.

-

Fighting Sakura is both everything and nothing like she’d dreamed it would be.

-

Sasuke leaves, and it’s awful, and everything about it is bad, but a small secret part of Ino she is ashamed to admit is there so she doesn’t, is glad. Now she doesn’t have to compete against Sakura’s crush for her attention anymore.

Maybe she and Sakura can go back to being friends, once a little time has passed and the initial wound healed some.

Except that’s not how it ends up being.

Sakura doesn’t have time for anyone anymore, let alone her childhood best friend and old rival. Sakura’s team has practically fallen apart, like Sasuke was its linchpin, and left her behind by herself. They leave the village for legitimate and illegitimate reasons, and vanish deep into missions.

Sakura’s started medical training under the new Hokage, _the_ Lady Tsunade, and she doesn’t have time for anything else anymore, let alone catching up with old friends.

-

Sakura becomes a rare sight around the village, one Ino has learned to appreciate all the more for its rarity, like a blossom that only blooms under certain conditions.

Ino is training hard, and when she isn’t, she helps out at her family’s flower shop, as she always has.

Just the other day, her father mentioned that her bouquets were becoming even more eloquently romantic and congratulated her for their new best-sellers. Ino doesn’t want to sell any of her new flower arrangements, and she isn’t one hundred percent certain why, since she made them to be sold. It’s not like she was thinking about anyone in particular when she made them.

-

Sakura is resplendent tonight, and Ino can’t breathe for fear of breaking the spell. It’s just a simple get-together, but it’s the first time she’s seen her childhood friend up close in months, and Sakura’s looking more and more adult every time Ino sees her. Her chin is narrower, her leaf-green eyes lined in black and sharp as kunai, and she is packing on muscles like _whoa_.

Ino can’t stop staring.

-

Sakura in battle is _stunning_.

It probably says something bad about Ino that the sight makes her want to stop fighting and swoon instead.

It definitely says something about her priorities when she almost misses a dodge because she’s craning around to try and get a glimpse of the glorious curve of Sakura’s exposed biceps as she punches someone halfway across the battlefield.

-

Ino can hold her own. She’s fought hard to be where she is today, strong, respected, and fearsome to all of her enemies.

It doesn’t mean she wouldn't like playing damsel for a certain someone in certain. . . situations, should they ever arise. Or that she’s above engineering such an. . . _‘unfortunate’_ circumstance.

She’s been waiting long enough.

Ino is a kunoichi, and she knows what she wants. It’s time she reaches out and _takes_ it.

(Provided she is not the only one reaching out.)

-

She’s not, and she's never been happier. 

**Author's Note:**

> Fun facts:  
Despite having once been a teenage girl, the entirety of my middle school years- approximately at the same age as the Naruto rookie crew became genin in canon- almost the entire period is an almost complete blank in my mind. What I can remember is curiously distant, like I read it happening to a character in a book once, in a book I didn't particularly think was well-written enough to cherish. I hope I managed to capture the feeling of pre-teen-ness. I _may_ have gone overboard on the emphasis, but I seem to recall having much more intense feelings a lot more often back then, and Ino's certainly a dramatic little thing.


End file.
